On today’s Business Beat, Jeff talks about how Amazon is the preferred product search source eclipsing the use of search engines.
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Good morning, Paul! We all know about the rush for businesses to go online in order to meet consumers where they are today. And we have news this morning about the way U.S. consumers are searching for products they wanna buy. Now, of course, you’d be reasonable to assume that this is obvious, right? You use a search engine, of course. Well, not so fast.
While roughly half of U.S. consumers do use search engines to conduct product searches online, the most popular method of searching for a product? It’s Amazon. In fact, 61% of U.S. consumers begin their product searches on Amazon, eclipsing the use of search engines to do this job, which are used roughly 51% of the time. Thirty-two percent of consumers indicate they start their searches on walmart.com.
Now, this is just another sign, Paul, of how the big retail behemoths, specifically Amazon and Walmart, continue to win the attention of U.S. consumers and by doing so are further shutting out others who might otherwise show up on a search conducted using a search engine. But with obviously no chance of showing up if consumers are starting their searches on Amazon and walmart.com, unless of course their merchants selling on those platforms, rounding out the list. Facebook used by 19% of consumers to conduct product searches, YouTube 20%.
The big mover? It’s TikTok. Now with 11% of U.S. consumers starting their searches using TikTok, it’s a real player these days. And no doubt, of that population, a great percentage of it is made up of young consumers.
So what to do if you’re a business owner using e-commerce as a primary channel? Consider using the marketplace platforms like Amazon and walmart.com as a supplement, at least, to your e-commerce. Make sure you maintain your focus on your social media presence as well. Make sure you put emphasis on TikTok, where a lot of young consumers are putting their focus today.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
